*Editor’s Note: Last week several members of the Callaway Senior High Youth Group shared about their experiences on a recent mission trip to Oklahoma City. This week we share the thoughts of the remaining members, as well as some of the adult sponsors.

“It was just a really fun way to learn about God with all of your friends. It was just a different kind of experience.”

That is how Kelynn Witthuhn, a senior this fall at Callaway High School, began to describe her first mission trip experience. Kelynn said growing up on a farm helped prepare her for the hard work the group did in Oklahoma City of clearing a lot that some described as looking “like a landfill”.

Once the hard work was done the youth group had the opportunity to socialize with the kids of the local church who will benefit from the group’s labor. That, said Kelynn, was her favorite part.

“It was fun just meeting all the kids and hearing the different viewpoints that they have,” she explained. “Their culture is so much different than our culture in Callaway.”

As she processed her memories of the trip to share what she considered the highlight for her, Kelynn shared, “Meeting the different kids and understanding where they are coming from and that they are still wanting to learn about God was my favorite. They wanted to learn from us. Even if they came from not a good home life, they still wanted to learn about God. I would say about 90 percent of them did not come from a good home life.”

Alley Jorgenson will be a sophomore this fall, and while she was not able to attend the mission trip she is regularly involved in the youth group and said she hopes to go on the next trip. Aside from their occasional mission trips, the youth group also does a lot of community service throughout the year.

“We pick up a lot of trash and share with each other. This group allows people to ask questions if they are ever doubting themselves or not sure of what to do. If they are not as strong in their religion they can just grow with each other,” said Jorgenson.

Fellow sophomore Tiersa Johnson echoed what her friend Alley shared, and elaborated on some of the ways the youth group tries to give back to the community. “We go around to people’s houses and collect food for the food pantry. We also had some guest speakers,” said Johnson. “The seniors taught us a lesson one night and that was nice.”

When asked how she would encourage a younger student to become involved in youth group Johnson responded, “I would tell them that going to youth group gives you a good place, kind of like home. They treat you like family there – they feed you, and it’s just a warm, happy home. There are kids here who don’t have that.”

Angel Johnson, a junior at CHS this fall, was also unable to attend this trip but said she really enjoys her connection with the youth group. She shared that one of the things she enjoys most is working with the other kids to help make a difference in their town.

“We split up into groups and went around to pick up trash. One of the things my group did was clean all of the trash out of the treeline by the track at the school,” said Johnson. “We got a lot of trash out of there!

“I had other obligations so I wasn’t able to make it on this mission trip, but I really do want to go on another mission trip,” Johnson continued. “I’m really dead set on going on one. I’m sad that I had to miss out on all of the hands-on work that they got to do, but there’s always next year.”

The 14 youth who traveled to Oklahoma were accompanied by six adults. One of them was sixth grade teacher Sarah Reish, who does have some experience with missions having gone to Switzerland last year with members of her church. She said being a sponsor was a much different experience that being a participant.

“I feel like I had a greater impact here. I went halfway around the world and this felt like a bigger connection. We could see the difference we were making. I might do another overseas mission trip sometime but there is so much to do here,” she said.

Kalen Dockweiler was another of the trip sponsors to Oklahoma City. A 2019 graduate of CHS, Dockweiler attended this same youth group during his high school years and went on the group’s mission trip to Chadron his senior year. He said being a sponsor gave him a little different perspective than just going as a participant, and said he would definitely do it again.

What impressed him the most about the group of Callaway youth? “The fact that they couldn’t find enough work for us to do. We got all our work done early and quick and they didn’t really have anything left for us to do.”

Dockweiler said he was also impressed by the way the Callaway youth interacted with the kids at the church. “I think the kids that went to that church helped our kids out just as much as we helped them, just from their stories and their knowledge of the Bible. It was inspiring to see those kids know the Bible and want to go there willingly,” he shared. “I went on the bus to go pick those kids up and some of them just came sprinting out of their houses.”

Brian and Sara Hogg made the trip as sponsors, and Brian pulled a trailer filled with tools and equipment to the site. Brian was a member of this same youth group as a teenager, but did not go on any mission trips then. He and Sara went together to Chadron three years ago where their job was to clean up an already established church camp. This trip, said Brian, was nothing like that.

“When we first pulled up I thought we had been catfished – honest! It was a storage unit with a little church sign on the door. To the naked eye, as far as things we are used to seeing, it was a culture shock for all of us,” Brian exclaimed. “We went in and talked with Pastor Chad and he acted like it was nothing; this is his church, and they love that church very much.”

Brian shared that watching the deep conversations take place between the inner-city kids and the Callaway kids was “amazing to watch.” However, he said there were also moments when the reality of the world the children there lived in became evident.

“There was a little kid sitting next to me and we chatted a little bit, then the pastor introduced us and asked everyone to clap for us. The little guy looks up at me and says, ‘What’s it feel like to be appreciated?’ We’re talking like a 6 or 7-yearold kid. I didn’t know what to say,” Brian shared.

He said when the group got back to camp that night the sponsors planned on everyone just going to bed. It had been a very long day. The teens, however, had a different idea.

“Some of them went to Sara and said, ‘We need to talk about this.’ They had just experienced a lot of emotion and needed to process that. So we sat around for maybe an hour or more just talking through it,” Brian said.

“We went down there to do a service for that church,” said Brian. “But the blessings we received were just as great as the blessings we gave. It gives me goosebumps just talking about it.”

Also going on the trip but unable to be at the meeting where these stories were shared were Addison Bailey, Brayden Keeney, and Neltje Reiff.